Battle begins over Diana souvenirs

A court battle which threatens the future of the charitable fund set up to honour Diana, Princess of Wales, gets under way later today.

The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund is being sued for malicious prosecution in a £14 million lawsuit in Los Angeles.

The lawsuit has been brought by an American souvenir firm, the Franklin Mint, which the memorial fund tried to ban from producing Diana mementoes, including dolls and plates.

The legal action, filed in November 2002, claimed the Fund and the executors of the late princess's estate, including her sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale, acted "maliciously, wantonly ... and with the intent to oppress".

The allegation related to an attempt the fund made in the courts in 1998 to stop the Mint from producing souvenirs.

The memorial fund announced in July last year that it would have to suspend its charitable donations as a result of the costly legal battle.

Dr Andrew Purkis, the chief executive of the Fund, said the lawsuit "unfounded".

The fund said at the time: "... At this early stage of the case and given the uncertainty of foreign litigation, the fund's maximum theoretical potential liability is unquantifiable."

The Mint is widely considered the world's leading marketer of collectibles and memorabilia

In the lawsuit, it states: "For centuries, collectibles bearing the names and images of members of the Royal Family have been openly and legally sold in Great Britain, the United States and around the world without permission from any source.

"Princess Diana's death on August 31, 1997 created massive consumer demand for Princess Diana memorabilia which the Mint and hundreds of others attempted to service."

The Mint said it "scrupulously honoured" promises to donate some of the proceedings from sales to charity.

"Meanwhile the fund initiated and pressed ahead with its own business plan to try to corner the market for Princess Diana collectibles, and to extract fees from vendors, by falsely proclaiming that it owned the 'exclusive rights' to her name and image," it said in the lawsuit.

The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was set up on September 2, 1997, three days after the Princess was killed in a car crash in Paris.

Several hundred charities have benefited from the fund, which employs 15 people.